241 Two For One
by FlipWise
Summary: Two years after the events in the book. A couple things have changed and Ponyboy witnesses his first love. Too bad he isn't the only one that likes her
1. Chapter 1

Yo! It's been a while. Too, too long. I've had a lot of things coming at me, and I completely had to drop my stories. But here's the deal. Trying to Live Up will be continued after this one or before. The Outsiders: Now-A-Days will be updated about every two or three weeks. As far as Exchangement, I don't know what I'm gonna do with that. Let me grab some inspiration and then keep up with the fans. Alright. Let's start this one. It feels good to be home.

"2-4-1: Two for One"

I don't own the The Outsiders.

We are in front of the Curtis house. It's a nice cool night, but not too cool, since it was still summer. School started a couple of weeks ago and Ponyboy barely pulled his grades up to become a sophomore in high school. A couple of things had changed since two years ago.

Ponyboy had let his hair grow out, but it still wasn't as long as it was before; to his dissatisfaction. His grades were picking up quickly, since over the summer Darry just about gave lessons on some of his struggling classes. He'd grown also and was just about Soda's height, but Soda beat him by about two inches. He was slightly breaking away from the gang. Pony still spent most of his time with them, but he met two guys while at his job.

It took a while to convince Darry that Ponyboy would be best for a job. Darry agreed after a while, but only for the summer. But he later on extended it since it really did help with the financial issues. Pony's friends were Tim Rogers and Reggie Parker. Tim worked at the bookstore with Pony, and helped him get the job. He was a very intelligent young man who also helped Ponyboy keep his studies up. He had short cut black hair and he used to be a greaser, but his mother got married and he moved up to middle class. But he still kept up with his greaser friends. Reggie was one of the very few African Americans in Tulsa. He was introduced to Ponyboy by his friend Mark Jennings. He was slightly quiet and only spoke around certain people. Mostly those that he knew. But he wasn't nearly as quiet as Ponyboy's old friend.

Darry hadn't changed much. His parenting was getting better and it showed as when Ponyboy messed up, he didn't yell at him. It was obvious that he wasn't perfect at it. Often it seemed like he was going to yell. But he caught himself, sighed and then explained how Ponyboy messed up in a normal tone.

Sodapop got a higher wage at the DX now that he was doing two things at once. He normally helped Steve with the cars, but he worked the register fully on certain days and still worked with the automobiles on the other days. He was going in and out of relationships with girls, and majority of them didn't even last a day. It was enough to worry Darry, but Pony knew that Soda was just trying to find someone like Sandy, or close. That would be a hard task.

Steve really hadn't changed, except for the fact that he was really getting into drag races. And it seemed like he was going to be in one twice a week. Two-Bit was still his silly, likeable self and had gotten fired from working at a night club when they figured out that his ID was fake. That really was the only time that he went looking for a job.

It was about eleven o' clock that night, and the porch light was still on, in case either Steve or Two-Bit decided to show up. The door opened and there stood a fifteen year old Ponyboy Curtis. Clad in an old tank top that Darry wore in his younger days, along with his usual blue jeans and worn out tennis shoes. He was carrying a trash bag and carried it to the can outside of the house. After dropping off the garbage he walked up towards the door and…

"Hey Pony!"

Ponyboy turned around to see Tim on his dirt bike. He smiled and walked over to his second latest friend.

"Don't tell me you're about to turn in," greeted Tim.

"Not right now," replied Pony while putting his hand in his pockets. "I was just putting the garbage up. When did you get the dirt bike?"

"It's brand new. I finally saved up enough money for it. Do you want a ride?"

Tim was patting his hand on the back of the bike.

"I can't. I don't think Darry would appreciate it if I was out around this time. I'll hang out with you tomorrow, okay?"

Tim tightened his helmet and revved up the bike, displaying some smoke from the pipe.

"Alright. Me and Reggie are running around tomorrow afternoon."

With that, Tim took off down the road. Pony watched him until he disappeared from view, until someone else reached him. He was startled by the hand that had touched him on his shoulder.

"Geez Sodapop! Are you trying to turn me whiter!"

Soda grinned and apologized.

"So who was that?" he asked.

"Tim."

"Tim!" repeated Sodapop. "Since when did he get a dirt bike?"

"He said he just got it. He'd been saving up a lot of money for it."

"You didn't want to ride it?"

"I really didn't feel like it. Plus I don't want to worry Darry."

Soda nodded and Pony continued.

"I'm going to hang out with them tomorrow."

"Ah," cut in Soda. "Meeting some girls."

Pony's stomach cringed. He hadn't really talked to a girl in a long time. The last time he could remember having a full conversation with a female was when he talked to Cherry Valance. And they hadn't been talking much either. Just the occasional 'Hi's'.

"No."

"Oh."

He sounded slightly depressed, but quickly changed his mood.

"Well whenever you're ready. I'll see you inside. Don't be out here for too long. It's starting to get slightly cold."

As Soda walked inside, Ponyboy thought about the girl situation. He felt slightly like a loser because he was the only one out of all of his friends that hadn't gone out with someone yet.

He got up and decided to sleep on the thought. When he got inside, Darry was asleep on the couch. He looked at the television but nothing was on right now. He turned it off and shook his oldest brother. Darryl groaned but didn't wake up. Pony didn't feel like fooling with him so he got the blanket and spread it over him. He then cut the lights off and went to he and Soda's bedroom. He lied down in the bed. A couple of things raced through his mind but it ended on why he hadn't gone out with a girl.

He didn't have time to ponder on the thought because a stench soon hit his nose and wondered vaguely where it came from. The sound of a toilet flushing and Soda's whispering answered his question and he quickly pinched his nose.

"Aw, Soda!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The sunlight peeked through the blinds of Pony and Soda's bedroom. The youngest Curtis creaked his eyes from the brightness and sat up in bed. It seemed like it was in the afternoon, a sunny Sunday afternoon. Darry was at work of course, and Soda only worked half the day today.

Pony walked to his closet and looked to see what he could wear today. He had just pulled out some black jeans when he heard the door slam. At first he thought it was Two-Bit, but he would have usually shouted something. It must be Tim or Reggie then.

"Who's there!" yelled Ponyboy.

"It's Reggie!"

"I'll be out in a second."

He put on the jeans and chose some random shirt so he would keep Reggie waiting. When he got to the living room, Reggie was sitting on the sofa.

"Hey Pony," he greeted while getting up. "Tim said he'll meet up over at the Dingo."

"Then let's go."

"Um. You're forgetting your shoes, man."

"Huh!"

Ponyboy looked down and sure enough the only thing on his feet was his socks. He felt heat on his face from embarrassment.

"Plan on walking around in your stocking feet?"

"Oh yeah. I'll be right back."

Ponyboy dashed back to his room to grab his shoes. This would have been the third time that he would have walked around outside without shoes. He remembered two years ago when he walked home from school. That time Steve reminded him, in a slightly cruel way.

Pony grabbed his shoes like he did when he ran track and flew back to the living room, stopping almost in Reggie's face. He slipped them on and tied the strings quickly.

"Okay. Now I'm ready."

The two walked out of the house and walked down to the Dingo. They yelled hi to a couple of people that they knew. Then they passed the park. Ponyboy usually kept his head down when he passed by there, but today he looked. He saw the fountain, and could have sworn he saw some people throwing some young kid in there. He was about to get Reggie's attention, but when he looked back, no one was there.

"Ponyboy!"

"Huh?"

"Isn't that your friend um…Two-Cents?"

"Two-Bit."

"Yeah. Him."

There was Two-Bit in his little car. Riding slow with the biggest smile on his face.

"Do you think he got a job?" asked Reggie.

"Two-Bit Matthews! I know why he's smiling. Look who's in the passenger seat."

Riding with Two-Bit, to his biggest pleasure, were two blondes. That was probably why he was riding slowly. So he could show off to everyone.

"You don't think he made them uncomfortable with them both riding in the front seat?"

"He's like that. He can convince most girls to do stuff like that, just as long as he's not drunk."

They reached the Dingo, and all the way Ponyboy had the girl thought in his mind. Two-Bit was one of the biggest ladies' man in town. A tie or runner up would be Tim Sheperd, who usually hooked his younger brother Curly up with a few fine females.

His thoughts were interrupted once again, but this time by Tim's dirt bike. He had just appeared around the corner and came to a stop next to his two friends.

"I guess I timed it right," he said as he took the helmet off.

"Are you sure you want to ride that thing around here?"

"Why shouldn't I?" asked Tim with a confused face.

"Hey. I know that I moved here a couple of months ago, but I do know that this is still a greaser neighborhood."

"Aw c'mon. That greaser/soc stuff is starting to wear off anyway."

"Either way this is still where hoods reside."

Tim ran his hands through his hair until he felt it was his liking.

"Man. I know people around here. They won't steal from me. Let's get something to eat. I didn't have anything to eat before we went to church."

The three walked into the Dingo and grabbed some food. They sat at a table and Ponyboy surveyed the scene. A lot of people were on dates. It seemed like all the girls here were on dates with someone. Some of them didn't even look that pretty. Like that girl by the restroom and that girl over there by the wall looks okay and by the door…

"Oh my God!"

Reggie and Tim looked at Ponyboy, and so did a couple of people around them. He felt a flush of embarrassment once again. The people around him continued on with their business, but Tim and Reggie were still looking at him.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I was just thinking aloud."

Tim and Reggie glanced at each other and shrugged. Pony looked back over by the door. He had just noticed the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. She had just entered the building and it seemed as if she was moving in slow motion.

She had black hair which had a certain shine to it, her eyes were small, like she had Asian descent in her heritage, and she was exactly Ponyboy and Reggie's height.

"Pony!"

"Huh?"

Reggie and Tim were staring at him again.

"Are you okay? You've been acting weird."

Pony looked at them and then snapped back into reality.

"No. I just have a lot on my mind."

Pony cut his eyes back over to the door, but the girl was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I'm telling you somebody was there!"

Ponyboy hung out with Tim and Reggie for the day and was now heading home since Darry wanted Pony home early on school nights. He had told them about the girl when they had just started heading back. They thought that he was just making an excuse about his outbursts.

"Pony," said Tim. "Calm down. We know about you. And you don't have to make excuses about stuff like this."

Ponyboy lowered his eyes. He took that as an insult. Nobody had really talked about how he had changed mentally. He wanted to pull another outburst, but they were just in front of the Curtis house. He decided to just head inside.

"I'll see you two tomorrow."

He walked into the house to see Soda and Steve sitting on the couch. Still wearing their DX shirts and Steve had a half empty beer bottle in his hand. Soda looked and greeted his younger brother as he walked in, but Steve, as usual, acted like Ponyboy wasn't even there. He was used to it by then.

"Hey, Pony. What's wrong?"

"Huh?"

"Well…You've got this tense look on your face. Like you had an argument."

"Oh well…"

He didn't even know that he had that expression on his face.

"…I saw this girl over at the Dingo, and Steve and Reggie think I'm lying about her."

That seemed to attract Steve's attention, but only for about two seconds. At that time Darry had walked out of the kitchen.

"Hey Pony. Go ahead and get to bed. You've got school tomorrow."

"Alright. Can I get something to eat real quick, first?"

"Sure.G'night."

Darry walked back towards his room and Ponyboy walked into the kitchen. If seemed as if it was almost instantly. He heard dialogue when he entered the kitchen.

"I guess you're brother's seeing things."

That was clearly Steve's voice.

"Look. He hasn't recovered mentally yet. But he's still the same guy."

As usual, Sodapop was sticking up for him.

"Okay. I know that. But the kid has never been on a date. And he's fifteen years old!"

It was quiet for a moment. That last quote hit him in the insides. He had never been on a date. It really hadn't really crossed his mind too much.

"I guess you're making sense. He is supposed to be turning seventeen soon...

There was more conversation between the two, but Pony wasn't listening. He leaned against the refrigerator door. Fifteen years old, and never been on a date. Everyone he knew had been on a date. Steve was still with Evie, even though they broke up twice. Soda had Sandy, Two-Bit had many occasions, Darry was very popular in school, Tim had gone out with both greaser chicks and middle class and Reggie mentioned he had only one date.

Ponyboy leaned there thinking, until Soda and Steve walked in which caught his attention after he zoned off.

"Sorry. I'm…going to bed," he said.

As he walked out, he heard Steve say,

"See what I mean?"

……..

Ponyboy met up with Tim outside of the school. He really was the only friend he hung out with during the day. Reggie really didn't want to be seen anywhere that had socs and some middle class. The civil rights movement was still going on, and Reggie was being home schooled by his grandmother. His mother and father were back in Alabama fighting for Civil Rights.

The area of Tulsa wasn't deep into racism. Especially because integration wasn't large in the area. There were a few African Americans there, and most of them would talk to anyone about political matters. Reggie was too quiet for that, and it was luck that he was introduced to Pony by Mark.

Speaking of which… Mark Douglas came running up to the two. He was a new friend of Pony's too, but he didn't know much about Mark's best friend Bryon.

"Hey guys. What's up?"

"Not much," answered Pony.

"As long as it isn't anything bad. Have any of you talked to Reggie lately?"

"Yeah," answered Tim before Ponyboy could open his mouth. "I went to his house early this morning. He was talking with his parents over the phone. He mentioned that he liked it here and wanted to stay."

"Well that's good. I hope he stays. We're playing football in the vacant lot near your house. Think you can come?"

"Sorry," answered Pony shaking his head. "We've got work."

"Aw that too bad. We could have really used you Pony. You're trying out for the team right?"

"Yeah. I had to convince my boss to extend my time so I could make practice and still make work."

At that time, the bell rang, signaling the students to go inside.

"Well that's our cue. I'll see you guys around lunch."

With that, Mark took off to look for Bryon and Tim and Ponyboy went inside too.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ponyboy first had to enter his English class. He suddenly remembered his experience with English last year. He was doing fine, actually excelling for kid his age, but after his 'accident' the grades just started plummeting. Good thing Mr. Syme was a nice teacher.

He sat down in his usual seat and as usual the class was full of upper classmen. Everyone here was a year older than him. If Sodapop hadn't of dropped out of school, then he would have a class with him. He wished that he did have the class with his brother. That way he could tutor him and help him keep his grades up and he might have graduated.

The bell rang again and his English teacher, Mr. Thomas called his class to order. He started in what lessons they would be starting today…

"But first I have to give back the tests you took last week."

Pony's head nearly shot up. He was actually very nervous about this test. The teacher reached his desk and put the sheet of paper face down. Pony sat there for a second, bracing himself for whatever letter grade he had gotten. He calmed himself, turned the paper over and saw that he had gotten a B +.

Relief swept over the young man as he looked at what he had missed. Question number five actually was a tough one, so he wasn't surprised that he got that one wrong. The door of the classroom suddenly opened, which caught Ponyboy's attention. As he looked at whoever had walked through the door, a feeling of déjà vu hit him. It was the same girl that he saw at the Dingo yesterday. The exact same one!

"May I help you?" asked Mr. Thomas, with his glasses pushed to the end up his nose.

"Is this the English class for Mr. Thomas?"

"Yes it is. Are you the new student?"

"Yes sir."

Well she seemed to adapt quite well. Mr. Thomas liked it when students addressed him as 'sir'. Pony thought that it made him feel like he had more authority.

"Well, as you know, I am Mr. Thomas. Your name please?"

"Gabrielle Lee."

Mr. Thomas looked down his attendance book and found her name. 'Gabrielle Lee.' Ponyboy might have been right about thinking that she was Asian. You didn't really find too many of them in Tulsa.

"Class! Listen up…"

Everyone in the room turned their attention to the teacher.

"This is our new student…Gabrielle Lee…"

A couple of students started to whisper as she was introduced. Pony guessed it was because of her beauty.

"I expect you to treat her with the respect that you treat each other with."

'That was a stupid thing to say,' thought Pony. This is high school. Not everyone like each other.

"You can take a seat in front of Ponyboy over by the corner."

Pony expected her to have a weird look on her face. Like everyone else did when they heard his brother and his name. He wasn't bothered by it, but it seemed like a tradition when he's greeting or being greeted. Although, she didn't have a confused look on her face. She really looked more nervous. She slowly started towards Pony's way and sat down in front of him. She even smelled good.

He couldn't even pay attention to the entire lesson. His mind was racing with images of this female. Man he couldn't wait to meet her. Meet her! His stomach churned. How would he greet himself? Darry always said that your first impression might be your last one, which was a quote from his father.

A couple of sentences went throughout his brain, until he settled on one. Right before the bell rang. Pony's stomach tightened again. This was it. He was about to introduce himself to her. By the time, he had his mind clear; she was already at the door. He sped himself up and almost dropped his books as he made his way to the door.

When he reached the hallway, he saw that everyone was looking at the girl. That ruined the moment for Pony. He didn't want to talk to her in front of everyone. What if she acted rude and embarrassed him in front of the entire crowd? Ponyboy already had enough people talking about him.

The rest of the day, he thought about Gabrielle. He didn't even speak about her until lunch. But it took Tim to get it out of him. He was sitting down next to his friend, who was talking on and on about a kid who had gotten in trouble in his math class.

"Mmm-hmm," said Ponyboy, with an accompanied nod.

"Okay. I told you that entire story and that's all you have to say?"

"Huh?"

Tim looked at him the same way he looked at him yesterday at the Dingo.

"What's up with you?"

"Well…I saw that girl again."

Tim rolled his eyes and Pony cut him off before he could say a comment.

"I'm not lying about her! She was sitting right in front of me!"

"Pony, when was the last time you went-"

"Look!"

Tim rolled his eyes again and looked at where his friend was pointing. His facial expression changed quickly when he saw Gabrielle nervously walking in the cafeteria.

"That's her!" he practically yelled and Ponyboy shook his head.

"Man. She is beautiful!"

"Who's beautiful!"

The teenagers nearly jumped and turned around to see Two-Bit's face right behind them.

"This new girl in school."

"Hey," started Two-Bit. "If there's any new girl around here, I surely would have noticed her. And…Damn!"

"You see her!" asked Ponyboy and he turned in the direction of his friend's sight. Sure enough was Gabrielle. This time sitting in line to get her lunch.

"Her name's Gabrielle," he stated.

Two-Bit and Tim looked at him, and he started to blush.

"You like her, don't you?"

"Well…yeah," and he blushed even more.

"Well, well , well-"

"Lay off Two-Bit," demanded Pony and Tim laughed.

"Alright, alright. I'll change the subject. To the reason why I came over here."

"What's up?" asked Tim.

"Well Tim Shepard got jailed last night. Was fighting in a bar last night, and he should be in the cooler for fighting and drinking underage."

"For how long?" asked Pony.

Two-Bit shrugged.

"Who knows. The fuzz always gives us random numbers. But now that means Curly in charge of the gang for a while."

"Which means they're going to get into some crazy stuff."

"Of course. I'll see you two later. Teacher at twelve o' clock. I didn't do my report."

Two-Bit took off and Pony and Tim continued their off with a conversation. But Gabrielle was still sitting in Ponyboy's mind.


	5. Chapter 5

I'm Back. Let's Go!

Chapter 5

"So you really like her?" asked Tim

"I told you I did already," said Ponyboy, having to hold anger from his voice.

Ponyboy and Tim were at the bookstore, filing books into the back. They usually did this while having various conversations. In this one particular, it was about Gabrielle.

"But think about it. You said that a lot of people were staring at her."

"So what do you mean?" asked Ponyboy, while looking at the shelf to see which order he should put The Jungle.

"It means that a lot of people may like her. You're not going to be the only one who's going to want to go out with her."

Ponyboy halted. That did make perfect sense. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of that before. Everybody was whispering about her and staring at her.

"C'mon," said Tim putting in the last book. "We're finished. Let's go back to the front."

"Um…Yeah."

The two teenagers walked from the back of the store towards the front, where the entrance was located; walking past the readers who were sitting at tables, involved in their stories. They reached the front of the store and walked behind the desk. Tim was getting some books from the inside of the desk while Ponyboy leaned on top of it, thinking some more.

So was he really going to go through with this? Ponyboy wasn't exactly the type of guy that strived for attention. Or did he just tell himself that to make up an excuse for being shy around most people. He may have seemed shy around the gang, but that was because he didn't have much to say. The quietest person of the group was…

Johnny. Man, did he miss him. A few months after the incident, Ponyboy nearly convinced himself that he had gotten over it. But he ended up having dreams about it constantly until a couple of months later. He felt like crying, but learned how to hold it back so he won't do it in public. But that was just the outside.

His thoughts were interrupted once again, when he noticed Reggie coming in through the door.

"Hey Reggie," greeted Ponyboy in a semi-quiet voice.

"Hey Pony, hey Tim."

"Hey man," greeted Tim as he sat the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, down on the desk. "What have you been doing? You get out of school before we do."

"Yeah. I know. But my mom and dad called a while after my grandma and I finished. We kind of had a long talk."

"Your mom called? That's good," said Ponyboy.

"Yeah. She asked how I was. And really, I kind of like it here."

"You do?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know that where we live is supposed to be the rough area of town. But it's a heck of a lot better than where we lived when we were in Alabama. The people are a lot better here. Oh yeah! My uncle's sending me a letter full of stories, so I can tell you guys a little bit more about the Tuskegee Airmen."

"Nice. Hey Pony, it's 9:00."

"Oh! Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. See you later."

"I guess I'll do the same," added on Reggie. "See you Tim."

"See you."

Ponyboy grabbed his school books and walked with Reggie out of the store into the nice clear night. Stars were out and streetlights were on. Luckily, both Reggie and Ponyboy lived near the book store; which is one of the reasons Darry let Ponyboy keep the job. So his curfew was pushed to 9:30.

"So you're going to stay around longer?" asked Ponyboy to Reggie.

"Well, I think I might stay here until you we graduate. I might come to you guy's school next year."

"That will be cool."

"Yeah. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had any friends like you guys. This may sound strange, but it's almost as if I needed you all."

Ponyboy cut his eyes to Reggie, for a second, and responded with another "Yeah." That last quote reminded him of Johnny again.


	6. Chapter 6

1

If you read, could you please leave a review? Not trying to be rude, but I like it when people leave some replies to me.

Chapter 6

Ponyboy reached the house and walked inside. The ceiling light wasn't on but the lamp over the arm chair provided light. Almost as soon as Ponyboy closed the door, Darry came walking into the living room, with his usual clothing as white beater and jeans.

"Hey Pony...How was school?"

"Alright," answered Pony as he put his books down.

"Okay. Um...Everything okay at work?"

"Yeah. Everything fine."

"That's good. Done your homework?"

"I just have to finish my math. I didn't have much time to do it after school."

"Alright. Go ahead and get started."

Ponyboy picked his books back up and continued his way to his room. He could tell that Darry was trying very hard to get a conversation out of him. But he didn't feel comfortable around him. He was his brother, but Soda seemed to be a lot more relaxed when he talked to him. Darry did sound slightly relaxed, but Pony could still heard the harsh tone in him that he used to use last year. He should at least have a conversation with him. Just once for Darry's sake.

Pony walked into the room and turned to lights on, but quickly turned them off when he noticed that Soda was in bed. He sat his books down on the floor and used the streetlight shining through his window to reach the desk lamp. After he turned it on, he looked back at the bed to see Soda sprawled out on it, just about taking Pony's side. His DX shirt was unbuttoned and one of his shoes was hanging off his foot.

Pony wanted to move Soda a little bit. Partially because he was pretty much taking up the whole bed, but also his position looked like he had just been murdered or something. He shook the image out of his head, he would quit having to watch so many movies. Ponyboy turned to his desk and picked a couple things off of it. Paying no attention to the cigarettes that were on the desk, and Ponyboy stopped smoking a while ago.

While doing his homework, the image of Gabrielle came into his head. The question ran throughout his brain again. Should he ask her out? He should do it. Then a quote came into his head,

"**But think about it. You said that a lot of people were staring at her."**

A lot of people. Man, he wanted to do it so bad, but what if he embarrassed himself. Suddenly the image of Two-Bit riding in his car with girls packed in appeared. Then more quotes.

"**Ah. Meeting some girls."**

"**Okay. I know that. But the kid has never been on a date. And he's fifteen years old!"**

That was motivation enough! He really liked this girl, and he needed to go out with someone. He ended it right there. He was going to ask Gabrielle Lee out tomorrow!

That morning, Ponyboy felt a new sense of excitement. But this feeling didn't come without being nervous. After getting himself ready, he walked into the kitchen to see Soda washing the dishes.

"You're not going to work today?" he asked his older brother.

He would have expected Soda to reply with some sort of joke, accompanied with a smile on his face. But he didn't do either of those things, didn't even make a sound. All he did was shake his head.

Ponyboy looked at the back of Soda's head for a second and then said,

"Well, I'm going to go ahead to school."

This time Soda said an answer, but he could barely hear it. Just a slight "Alright." Ponyboy pondered about Soda's weird behavior all the way to school. But as soon as he stepped onto campus, the thought of asking out Gabrielle Lee came to mind. He stomach tightened like a shoe lace and it seemed as if he was walking in slow motion the entire time. Again, he would have to quit looking at so many movies.

The only time he would see her was in English class. It seemed like the day was going slow until he reached that period. He kept looking at the door to see if she was coming in. His heart illuminated when she walked in and took her seat in front of him. He couldn't help but smile.

The class seemed to take ages. After this class he was going to ask her out or at least introduce himself. Wait! He would introduce himself, then ask her out. Perfect! Just then, a knock at the door broke into his thoughts. Mr. Thomas walked over and opened the door and a receptionist from the front office walked in.

"May I speak with Gabrielle Lee please."

Mr. Thomas turned and saw that Gabrielle was already getting up. The only wanted to talk to someone if they had gotten in trouble. But she had only gotten here yesterday. What could she have done, thought Ponyboy.

"Hi Gabrielle. We just have some forms for you to fill out."

Well that answered his question. But this will put a dent in Pony's plans. He looked at her desk and saw that her books were still there. That meant that she would have to come back to retrieve them. He would just wait for her outside of the classroom and then continue on with his plans.

The class still seemed to drag on, but eventually the bell rang. Ponyboy got up and gathered up his belongings. When he walked outside of the classroom, he froze. He saw something that wasn't in his plan for today. There was Gabrielle and she was talking to Curly Shepard. Ponyboy could just about hear what they were saying.

"So I was thinking that I could show you around. Starting by taking you to the best hangout around here. A place called the Dingo."

Gabrielle put on a small smile, but it was still beautiful. Then she said those words that dreaded Ponyboy.

"I'd like that."

The world around Ponyboy froze. All he saw was Curly Shepard and Gabrielle Lee. Ponyboy almost dropped his books. He managed to keep a grip on them, but even the firmest grip couldn't keep his heart from dropping.


End file.
